Stores, Digital Sales Support Walmart's Advance In Q2

Greg Foran, Walmart's CEO in the United States, admitted: "Amazon is an unbelievably good competitor". Comparable sales at namesake stores in the USA increased 1.8% with traffic up 1.3% and average ticket up 0.5% in the quarter year over year.

Company net revenues were $123.36 billion versus $120.85 billion in the year-earlier second quarter.

Walmart executives touted the company's ecommerce business, where net sales rose 60% in the second quarter.

Before the market open on Thursday, Aug. 17, the big-box retailer reported second-quarter earnings of $1.08 a share, compared to earnings of $1.07 a share analysts surveyed at Factset expected.

The retailing giant said USA comparable-store sales rose 1.8% compared to a year ago, making it the 12th straight quarter with positive results. Walmart previously estimated earnings of $4.20 to $4.40 a share.

In a conference call, Brett Biggs, Walmart evp/CFO, emphasized that, with the one-time charges in the latest completed quarter and a 14 cents per diluted share gain in the period a year prior related to the sale of the Yihaodian business in China set aside, Walmart's EPS gained 1% year over year. The company said ecommerce businesses are not only pulling down its gross margins, its operating expenses increased by 3.9 percent in the quarter "primarily due to investments in ecommerce and technology".

"Our strategy is to make every day easier for busy families", Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement. Our customers are responding to the improvements in stores and online, and our results reflect this.

Walmart has also embarked on several efforts to deliver items more quickly and efficiently to customers, in a bid to keep up with its competitors. McMillon added that Walmart has experienced favorable results from the rollout of online grocery, which is now in more than 900 US locations, and that the company would expand the service in markets around the world.

Walmart is "intensifying digital initiatives", Chen added, and the company's focus on both price and convenience should help it grow market share.